Well-known surgeon Debra Clausing Sudan speaking at Muskingum University commencement

NEW CONCORD – Debra Clausing Sudan from the Class of 1985 will be the commencement speaker for ceremonies at 2 p.m. Saturday for Muskingum University at the Anne C. Steele Center. The university has more than 300 graduate and undergraduate students who will have degrees conferred.

Muskingum will start the day with a baccalaureate ceremony at 10 a.m. in Brown Chapel. It will be followed by a hooding ceremony for Muskingum’s graduate students who are earning master’s degrees in applied leadership, business and information systems, education and teaching.

Sudan is a transplant surgeon. She serves as division chief of abdominal transplant in the department of surgery, professor of surgery and professor of pediatrics at Duke University and, in 2020, was the first woman honored with Duke’s Master Surgeon Award. Her clinical interests encompass all abdominal organ transplants – kidney, liver, pancreas and intestine transplant. She is especially dedicated to efforts toward improving graft preservation and long-term graft function and patient survival.

In 2018, she completed North Carolina’s first-ever abdominal wall transplant. She previously served as professor of surgery and director of the living donor transplant program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. While in Nebraska, she developed pioneering techniques for successful living donor liver transplantation and for intestinal transplantation. In addition, she was the first female surgeon in the world to perform an intestine transplant in 1996.

Sudan began her academic career at Muskingum University, where she earned a bachelor's degree summa cum laude in chemistry with minors in biology and German. While on campus, she played the flute in the orchestra and band and was a member of F.A.D. and a resident assistant. She completed her medical degree and general surgery residency at Wright State University. She was honored with a Muskingum alumni Distinguished Service Award in 2023.

The Commencement ceremony will air live on Orbit TV and WMCO Radio. To listen or view the ceremony, go to orbitmediaonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Debra Clausing Sudan speaking for Muskingum University commencement